One person: Senior brother Zhang Zhiwei, the Celestial Master begged me to descend the mountain.

The night was as dark as ink, so thick it was impossible to see through.

Although the hustle and bustle of Biyou Village had subsided, the chill of the night was becoming increasingly pervasive.

In a side room at the east end of the village, which had not yet been destroyed.

"Grandmaster, are you sure this rope is sturdy?"

Zhang Chulan squatted at the doorway, drawing circles on the ground with a twig in his hand. Every now and then, he would glance back at the humanoid figure inside the house, bound like a dumpling, his face filled with unease.

"This is the successor of the Divine Craftsmanship. If he wakes up and all these magical artifacts explode, we might not be able to save this roof."

In the center of the room.

Ma Xianhong had been stripped down to just a thin shirt; his once expensive attire and magical artifacts had long been stripped away.

At this moment, he was wrapped in golden ropes of light.

That was a rope condensed by Zhang Taichu using the Golden Light Mantra. Not to mention Ma Xianhong, even an elephant would have to lie down obediently if it were tied up.

Zhang Taichu sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed) to the side, his eyes closed, his breathing long and even, like an old monk in deep meditation.

He didn't even lift an eyelid to Zhang Chulan's rambling.

"If you're bored, go outside and count the stars."

"If you say another word, I'll tie you and him together."

Zhang Chulan shrank his neck and immediately shut his mouth, even making a zipper-zipping gesture.

Silence fell in the room once again.

Only Ma Xianhong's slightly heavy breathing rose and fell in the deathly silence.

Sudden.

Ma Xianhong, who was originally unconscious, suddenly convulsed.

The amplitude was large, like a fish thrown ashore, struggling to survive.

"Holy crap?!"

Zhang Chulan was startled and sprang to his feet.

"Awake? You're awake already?"

"Something's not right... this reaction isn't normal!"

Ma Xianhong did not open his eyes.

His facial features were contorted at an extremely bizarre angle, as if he were enduring some kind of excruciating pain from the depths of his soul.

His teeth were grinding together, and white foam even spilled from the corners of his mouth.

Even more terrifying.

A faint blue light suddenly appeared between his eyebrows.

The light was cold and viscous, exuding a chilling and sinister aura, like an invisible hand trying to forcefully drill into his brain.

"ah--!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream, utterly piercing, escaped from Ma Xianhong's clenched teeth.

His body was curled up like a shrimp, his veins bulging, and the golden ropes were snapping and buzzing.

"Master Uncle! It's going to explode! It's going to explode!!"

Zhang Chulan no longer cared about being afraid. He rushed forward to grab Ma Xianhong, but was forced back two steps by the sudden burst of cold aura.

"What the hell is this thing?!"

"Someone's up to something!"

On the kang (heated brick bed).

Zhang Taichu suddenly opened his eyes.

In that instant, it was as if a golden lightning bolt struck the dimly lit room.

He looked at Ma Xianhong, who was struggling in pain, and at the increasingly bright blue light between his eyebrows, and a cold smile slowly curved his lips.

"That's interesting."

"You dare to intrude while I still have your hands in my possession?"

"They're not taking me, Zhang Taichu, seriously."

Zhang Taichu moved swiftly and appeared in front of Ma Xianhong in an instant.

He neither untied the rope nor restrained Ma Xianhong's flailing limbs.

Instead, he extended the index finger of his right hand.

At his fingertips, a point of golden light suddenly condensed, shining as brightly as a star.

"Certainly."

Zhang Taichu's fingers lightly landed on Ma Xianhong's brow.

It was perfectly positioned, right in the center of that cold, blue light.

boom!

Two completely different forces of Qi collided violently within this small area.

The blue light, which had been frantically trying to penetrate deeper, seemed to have hit an impenetrable wall, emitting a sizzling sound.

Ma Xianhong's screams abruptly stopped.

His body stiffened instantly, then slumped down limply as if his bones had been removed.

But the confrontation at the brow has only just begun.

"Grandmaster Uncle... what... what's going on?"

Standing to the side, Zhang Chulan felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the interwoven gold and blue light that flickered between Ma Xianhong's brows.

"Is someone remotely controlling this?!"

"This method...it looks kind of familiar?"

"It looks familiar, that's why."

Zhang Taichu's finger remained on Ma Xianhong's brow, his tone as calm as if he were chatting casually:

"Red hands cultivate the body, blue hands cultivate the soul."

"To be able to pinpoint Ma Xianhong's consciousness from such a distance and then forcibly erase his memories."

"Besides that so-called 'two-handed' expert, who else could it be?"

"A dual-wielding hand?!"

Zhang Chulan's eyes widened:

"One of the Eight Extraordinary Skills: Dual-Handed Techniques?!"

"Wasn't this technique lost to time? How could it be...?"

"Lost in history?"

Zhang Taichu chuckled, and the golden light at his fingertips suddenly surged:

"There is no such thing as a truly lost art in this world."

"They're just rats hiding in the gutter, they've changed their skin and are still gnawing in the dark."

at this time.

The blue light between Ma Xianhong's eyebrows seemed to have sensed something was wrong.

It discovered that no matter how hard it tried to break through the golden light defense, it could not break through it. Instead, it was being burned and devoured little by little by the domineering masculine energy.

It was afraid.

The blue light began to tremble violently, and the needle-like shape it had condensed instantly dispersed, turning into countless tiny wisps that tried to escape from Zhang Taichu's fingertips.

That was a signal to retreat.

The other party wants to cut off contact.

"Trying to run away?"

Zhang Taichu's smile deepened, but his eyes held a chilling killing intent.

"You took my spoils and think you can just walk away?"

"There's no such thing as a free lunch."

"Now that you've got your hand in, don't expect to pull it back so easily!"

Zhang Taichu changed his finger to a grasp.

He didn't touch anything physical, but his grab felt like he had grasped some kind of causal thread in the void.

Om-! ! !

A terrifying mental fluctuation erupted instantly, centered on Zhang Taichu.

That's not the flow of Qi.

That is the power of the primordial spirit.

Zhang Chulan felt a blur before his eyes, as if he saw a golden giant rising from the top of Zhang Taichu's head.

"Watch him."

Zhang Taichu's voice echoed in the room, yet it seemed to come from a very distant place:

"I'll go and drag that rat out."

Before he could finish speaking...

Zhang Taichu closed his eyes.

But the golden light at his fingertips did not disappear; instead, it transformed into a dazzling pillar of light, flowing upstream against the blue aura that was trying to escape.